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Welcome to the first Ready for Better blog post. I am glad to have you here!
If you’ve read my previous blog http://www.ashellandastone.blogspot.com/ this one will be very similiar in style. Let’s open up financial discussion and thoughts on life and money. I’ll bring insight, comedy and plenty of pictures… Now, on to Dog Tales!

Good Morning from the Rails-To-Trails Walk/Bike Path just north of Princeton, KS! This is a great place to spend time in the morning with my Two excited girls, Bella (left) & Roxy (right). You may have remembered Roxy from the roadtrip, as she’s been a blog-star before. Now she has a new sweet sister, Bella. This girl is really fitting in well around here and she has inspired the first story for Ready for Better….

These fall Kansas mornings are beautiful and as the bright golds, dusty browns and deep greens start to interplay, we know that summer is now behind us.

The morning walk is an exciting time for both dogs and me. Here we are starting to learn about the personality of these two girls, and really about how some of us choose live our lives. This also will relate to how we look at our finances. As you can see, the path is nicely pebbled and clear, although there is lots of nature around.

Roxy is a confident and intentional girl. As soon as we reach the path, immediately she crashes through the brush and weeds along the trail, pads down into the shade and moves fluidly among the woods and bushes. One can only imagine the jackpot of doggy surprises down there. Tons of smells, obstacles and visual stimuli. Logs to bound over, branches to slide under, things to stop to sniff and sometimes critters to chase! She’s living her dreams without worry, just like Debt-Freedom!

However her opposite, Bella, is up on the pea gravel with me. She’s having fun and is excited as well. Many times, she finds herself alone.

Interestingly, her comfort in the main trail seems strained. It’s like she knows there is more out there, but is afraid to try.

Sometimes she pokes her nose off the edge of the trail, tries to push into the weeds and usually backs off. There is always a stubborn sapling, or stiff stick right in her way. Most of the time it’s just a dead grass blade that stops her in her tracks. There are no mowed openings down into the woods…

What does this teach us about ourselves? How often do we consider a change or to try something new, only to have the “why nots” immediately smacking us in the face.

In the world of personal finance, we find that most of us Americans are sticking to the main path. Let’s play it safe and stay on what has been laid down as the “Normal” way to go. Consumer-debt and the highly-effective marketing of credit is the man-made pea gravel path. And unfortunately, this “Normal” way, is pay-check to pay-check, really meaning broke. God created so much more life for us to enjoy than this.

Although it may be tough at first to break away, our friend Roxy knows the joys that make it worth the effort. Getting on a budget, building power over purchase, and breaking habits of always needing a car loan to buy a car, these are the uncomfortable twigs that shouldn’t have the power to stop us from reaching our dreams that we deserve.

So when we’re debt-free, when we’ve taken on challenges, and maybe had to feel a little sticker bush scratch to get there, we understand the truth. There is a much richer path already waiting for us in the shade of the trees. A creek-bed travels parallel to the Rail-Trail. Down there we have water for refreshment, and it is loosely vegetated with plenty of running room. Will we be brave enough to find this out first hand?

Good news for us and for Bella. Little by little we see progress. We get bolder and stronger. We get tired of the same ‘ol same ‘ol. This morning I saw her stepping further into the grass and even beyond the first clumps of brush, she was following Rox… It won’t be long and she’ll be going whole-hog straight into doggy-heaven-on-earth!

I personally know and feel the freedom that the journey out of debt can bring. Life after debt is possible and absolutely rewarding. There is a better way than Normal… When you’re Ready for Better, give me a call, I’ll be thrilled to show you the way!